The music you make can do much more than move feet and pull heartstrings; it can create real change ­ within your community, your country, and your world. Join Instruments For Change and you’ll be joining a diverse and illustrious lineup of musicians who are turning their passion into progress.

Instruments For Change (IFC) is a unique charitable initiative that helps musicians use their art to support causes that are close to them. Overseen by the Western Canadian Music Alliance, it unites artists from different places and genres to support different causes through the vehicle of shared, communal instruments.

All you have to do is grab the Yamaha IFC guitar from your MIA office, write or reinterpret an original song with it and any other instruments you'd like, and then choose a charity to support. You get $300 to put towards your cause right off the bat. Next, get creative and produce a short performance video of your song. It can be pure performance or cut with some cool extra footage; single-take or stop-motion ­ however you want to showcase your creativity, your chosen charity will reap the rewards. All that's left is to share your video far and wide and encourage others to do the same. Get creative with your promotion campaign. Challenge a fellow participant, host a show to raise awareness, run a contest. The more you do, the more people can latch onto.

As your video gets shared far and wide - by you and the program's partners - so too will its impact, making for a mutually beneficial ecosystem that supports Canadian music, the artists that create it, and hard-working not-for-profits fueling positive change the world over.

Want to become an Instruments For Change Artist and join our community? Email social@breakoutwest.ca and we’ll get the process started.

Need some assistance making your video? We have some amazing industry partners that are donating their services to help! Contact them directly, ability to support is on a case by case basis. Have a venue, studio, or space you’d be willing to have IFC artists film in? Contact us and we’ll add you to the list!